Train couplings



Jan. 26, 1960 Filed Oct. 28, 1957 R. P. HAMMOND TRAIN COUPLINGS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l 42 3o li iw I w 21 1 ii I 23 3a O 29 I i I J Q 2 3 2L 28 I a? 40 5 34 32 a: as J w; INVENTOR. 1 @oland Philip Hammond BY F lg. 4 M

ATTORNEY Jan. 26, 1960 R. P. HAMMOND 2,922,531

TRAIN COUPLINGS Filed Oct. 28, 195'? 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I 47 In 36' 5 g 49 48 I L g; I 46 z INVENTOR. Roland Phih' Hammond F lg. 8 BY p I ATTORNEY ited States Patent TRAIN COUPLINGS Roland Philip Hammond, Los Alamos, N. Mex.

Application October 28, 1957, Serial No. 692,860

12 Claims. (Cl. 213-62) This invention relates to a car coupler for railway trains, and more particularly for use in coupling the cars of an articulated unitary train of the type having a substantially continuous interior without intervening doors and vestibules.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an exceedingly rugged car coupling device in which all relative movements of the component parts will be dampened and cushioned so as to eliminate looseness and noise, and which will act to support the entire weight of the forward extremity of a car from the rear extremity of a preceding car so that the adjacent extremities of both cars will be supported upon a single wheeled support.

Another object of the invention is toprovide a relatively simple car-supporting coupler which will enable the cars to be quickly and easily coupled and uncoupled, and which, when uncoupled from a supporting car, will act to independently support the uncoupled car from a railway track.

A further object is to provide a coupling device which can be used in combination with a wheel support of a type in which the wheel axis is positioned intermediate the coupled cars, and to provide a coupling device which will resist all relative movements except horizontal rotation between the coupled cars without looseness or lost motion; and to provide a coupling device which will act to cushion both relative longitudinal and lateral movements between the coupled cars.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efliciency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of one form of the improved coupling device, illustrating it in coupled position between adjacent car undercarriages;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the structure of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side view, partially broken away, showing the coupler in the uncoupled position;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal section, taken on .the line 4-4, Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a second form of the improved coupling device in the coupled position;

Fig. 6 is a side view of the alternate form of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a side View, partially broken away, showing the alternate form of coupler in the uncoupled position; and

Fig. 8 is an enlarged longitudinal section, taken on the line 8-8, Fig. 5.

In Figs. 14 the undercarriage of what will be herein designated as the front car is indicated at 10 and the undercarriage of a rear car at 11. The trailing extremity of the front car is supported upon a pair of ice wheels 12 mounted upon an axle 13 by means of a wheel suspension, such as described in detail in applicants co-pending application Serial No. 686,752. Briefly, the wheel suspension comprises a pair'of wheel beams 14 in the rear extremities of which the extremities of the axle 13 are journalled, as shown at 15. The wheel beams 14 extend forwardly on opposite sides of the undercarriage 1i), and each is mounted adjacent its middle upon a pivot stud 16 extending outwardly from the undercarriage. The rear extremity of each wheel beam rests upon an expansible pneumatic spring 17, supported upon a supporting bracket 18 extending outwardly from the undercarriage 10, which absorbs the car weight placed upon the pivot studs 16. Air pressure is supplied to the pneumatic springs 17 from the train air line under control of compensating valves 19. The air pressure in the pneumatic springs can be sufflciently reduced to allow brake shoes 20 attached to the undercarriage to come into frictional engagement with the rails, indicated at 21.

The improved coupling device employs a sleeve block 22 which is mounted on the rear of the front car 10 if any desired manner, such as by means of attachment bolts 23. The weight of the leading extremity of the rear car is transferred to the sleeve block 22 by means of a triangular coupler member 24 secured to the leading extremity of the rear car in any suitable manner, such as by means of attachment bolts 25 The sleeve block 22 is formed with a vertically positioned cylindrical bore in which a spool-shaped, resilient, cylindrical grommet 26, provided with upper and lower terminal flanges 27 and 28, respectively, is positioned. The upper and lower terminals of the passage through the grommet 26 are countersunk to provide upper and lower conical recesses.

The grommet 26 is provided with an internal protective liner 29 which covers the entire internal surface and the upper and lower surfaces of the flanges 27 and 28,

respectively. The grommet is preferably molded directly upon the liner from an elastic material, such as rubber, neoprene, or other similar resilient material reinforced with fabric or cords of nylon or the like.

The rear extremity of the coupler member 24 is formed with a downwardly-facing coupling boss 30 having a conical frustum shape to correspond to the shape of the countersunk depression in the upper terminal of the grommet 26 and liner 29, and in the upper flange 27.

When the coupling member 24 is in coupled position on the sleeve block 22, the boss 30 will wedge into the top of the liner 29 to prevent relative movement therebetween, and substantially one-half the weight of the rear car will be supported from the front car under the cushioning influence of the resilient grommet 26.

When in use, the coupling member and the sleeve block are locked in engagement by means of a vertically movable latch bar 31 which is pivoted upon a horizontal pivot pin 32 in the coupling member 24 and extends forwardly therefrom to a position beneath the grommet 26.

The latch bar is provided with an upwardly projecting coupling boss 33 corresponding in shape to the upper boss 30 and adapted to enter the countersunk depression in the lower terminal of the grommet 26, as shown in Fig. 4.

The latch bar may be swung upwardly and locked in engaged position in any desired manner. As illustrated, the latch bar is extended forwardly from the pivot pin to form a cam lever 34. A cam 35, mounted upon a transversely extending cam shaft 36 in the rear car, is positioned to act against the cam lever 34 to swing the latch bar upwardly and maintain it in coupled relation with the grommet 26 in consequence of rotation of the cam shaft 36.

The cam shaft may be rotated in any suitable manner.

As illustrated, it is rotated jack 37 the plunger of which, illustrated at 38, is connected to an actuating lever 39 fixedly projecting from the cam shaft 36. The jack may be actuated pneumaticallyfrom the train line air system, or may be actuated hydraulically, if preferred. The jack is mounted in any practical manner, such as upon a jack shaft 40 extending transversely of the front car.

The downward movement of the latch bar is limited by means of a suspension pin 41 which is hingedly connected to the latch bar at its lower extremity and extends upwardly through the coupling member 24, terminating in anenlarged head 42. The head 42 acts as a stop to limit the degree of downward movement, as shown in Fig. 3.

Since the cars have no supporting wheels at their forward extremities, it is desirable to provide means for supporting the latter extremities when the cars are uncoupled. To accomplish this in the embodiment illustrated, wheel cranks 43 are mounted on the extremities of the cam shaft 36. Each wheel crank carries a flanged, track-engaging dolly wheel 44 and the wheels 44 are separated to correspond to the gauge of the track rails 21.

The wheel cranks 43 are angularly arranged in relation to the cam 35 so that as the cam swings upwardly, clockwise in Fig. 4, the Wheel cranks will swing downwardly to bring the dolly wheels 44 into supporting relation with the tracks 21. The length of the wheel cranks is designed so that as the wheels 44 engage the tracks 21, the forward extremity of the rear car will be sufficiently elevated to cause the upper coupling boss 30 to rise above the plane of the top of the grommetzo of the front car, indicated by the broken line A in Fig. 3, so that the two cars will be completely uncoupled, as shown in the latter figure. The cars may be recoupled by simply moving them toward each other until the bosses 30 and 33 approach alignment by means of a fluid-actuated with the axis of the grommet of the front car, and then actuating the jack 37 to raise the dolly wheels 44 to allow the upper boss 30 to settle into coupling position and to elevate the lower boss 33 into latching relation with the grommet.

The form of coupler .thus far described is more particularly designed for use with wheel suspensions wherein the wheel axle is positioned between the cars. For Wheel suspensions where the wheel connecting axle is eliminated, as described in applicants copending application Serial No. 686,752, a second, although similar, form of coupler is preferred. The latter form is illustrated in Figs. 5 through 8 of the drawing.

The wheel suspension of the second form is similar in all respects to that previously described, with the exception that the wheels 12 and their connecting axle 13 are eliminated. 'In the second form, wheel beams 45, corresponding to the wheel beams 14 of the previous form, are employed. The wheel beams 45 are bifurcated at their rear extremities and a flanged, car-supporting wheel 46 is positioned between and journalled in the furcations of the extremities. The wheels 46 serve the same purpose as the wheels 12 of the preceding form, but the elimination of the axle 13 allows the cars to be positioned in closer relation and the coupling device can thereby be The coupling device in the secondform of the invention comprises a sleeve block 47 on the rear car similar in all respects to the sleeve block 22 ofthe preceding form. The sleeve block 47 is also provided with a grommet 55 and liner 56 corresponding to the grommet and liner of the previously described block 22.

In the second form, however, the sleeve block 47 is supported upon a conical boss 48 extending upwardly from a supporting ledge 49 formed upon a mounting plate 50 secured to and across the rear extremity of the front car in any desired manner, such as by means of mounting .bolts 51.

When coupled, the grommet is retained in position on the boss 48 by means of a cover plate 52 which is hingedly mounted upon a hinge pin 53 carried in the mounting plate 50. The cover plate 52 is formed with a downwardly extending conical boss 54 designed to enter the countersunk depression in the top of the grommet 55 similarly to the boss 30 of the previously described form. The cover plate is retained in place by means of a coupling pin 57 which extends concentrically through the bosses 48 and 54. The coupling pin is threaded into the ledge 49 and is provided with a head 58 which engages the cover plate to clamp the latter downwardly against the upper flange of the grommet.

The second form is also provided with dolly wheels 59 mounted upon cranks 60 extending from a crank shaft 61. The crank shaft is rotated from a fluid jack 62, as in the preceding form. The lengths of the crank shafts 61 are such as to elevate the lower extremity of the grommet 55 to a plane above the top of the lower boss 48, as indicated by the plane line B in Fig. 7, so that the cars may be freely coupled and uncoupled.

The objects and advantages attained by the second form of the invention are similar to those of the first form. While the terms front, rear, forward, and rearward have been used herein for convenience of description, it is to be understood that the improved coupling devices function equally well regardless of the direction of travel.

It is desired to stress the fact that there are no frictional engagements in the improved coupling, and that the coupling resiliently resists relative tilting movements of the train units without lost motion and without metallic contacts. The coupling bosses 30 and 33 are tightly wedged in the extremities of the liner 29 and the grommet 26 is tightly clamped in the sleeve block 22, so that frictional relative movement is impossible. The flexibility necessary for relative movements between the units in a horizontal plane are accommodated by the inherent resili'ent torsion in the grommet material without friction and without lost motion.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appending claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Means for coupling a first railway car to a second railway car comprising: a sleeve block having a vertical bore therethrough; means mounting said sleeve block on the extremity of the first car; a coupler member; means securing one end of the coupler member to the second car; -a boss formed on the under surface of and adjacent the other end of said coupler member and adapted to enter the upper extremity of the bore in said sleeve block; retaining means hingedly mounted on said coupler member; a second boss on said retaining means in axial alignment with said first boss; and means for swinging said retaining means so as to cause said second boss to enter the lower extremity of the bore in said sleeve member to retain the first boss in place therein.

2. Means for coupling a first railway car to a second railway car as described in claim 1, having a resilient, cylindrical grommet lining the bore in said sleeve block; and terminal flanges formed on said grommet overlying and underlying said sleeve and providing cushioned seats for said bosses.

3. Means for coupling a first railway car to a second railway car as described in claim 2 in whichthe upper and lower extremities of said cylindrical grommet are formed with conical counterbores, and in which said bosses are formed with. frusto-conical contour to fit into said counterbores.

4. Means for coupling a first railway car to a second railway car as described in claim 3 having a metallic liner covering the inner surface of said grommet and the upper and lower surfaces of said upper and lower terminal flanges, respectively, to protect said resilient grommet.

5. Means for coupling a first railway car to a second railway car comprising: a sleeve block having a vertical bore therethrough; means mounting said sleeve block on the extremity of the first car; a coupler member; means securing one end of the coupler member to the second car, said coupler member extending over the sleeve block of the first car; a downwardly extending boss formed on the under surface of and adjacent the other end of said coupler member and engaging in the upper extremity of said bore; a latch bar; means hinging' said latch bar to said coupler member so that it may be swung upwardly beneath said sleeve block; a second boss formed on said latch bar positioned to engage in the lower extremity of said bore; and releasable locking means carried by said coupler member and arranged to engage said latch bar so as to retain said second boss in engagement with the lower extremity of said bore.

6. Means for coupling a first railway car to a second railway car as described in claim 5 having means carried by said second car and engageable with a railway track to lift said coupler member to disengage said first boss from said sleeve block for uncoupling purposes, said latter means being coupled with said latch bar so as to be brought into engagement with said track when said latch bar is swung downwardly from said sleeve block.

7. Means for coupling a first railway car to a second railway car comprising: a sleeve block having a vertical bore therethrough; means mounting said sleeve block on the extremity of the first car; a coupler member; means securing the coupler member to the adjacent extremity of the second car, said sleeve block resting upon and providing the sole support for the said extremity of the first car; an upwardly extending boss formed upon said coupler member and engaging in the lower extremity of said bore; and means mounted on said coupler member and engaging said sleeve block and acting to prevent relative vertical movement therebetween.

8. Means for coupling a first railway car to a second railway car as described in claim 7 in which the means for retaining comprises: a cover plate hingedly mounted on said coupler member and adapted to swing over said sleeve block; a second, downwardly-facing boss formed on said cover plate and adapted to enter the upper extremity of said bore; and releasable, retaining means carried by said coupler member and positioned to engage said cover plate to maintain said cover plate in position over said sleeve block when desired.

9. Means for coupling a first railway car to a second railway car as described in claim 8 in which the releasable, retaining means for maintaining said cover plate in position consists of a coupling pin extending downwardly through said cover plate, said sleeve block and said coupler member, and means detachably securing said pin to said coupler member to retain said pin in place when desired.

10. Means for coupling cars in a railway train comprising: a sleeve member mounted on one extremity of each car and having a vertical bore theret'nrough; a tubular spool-like, resilient, elastic grommet positioned in said bore; a coupler member mounted on the other extremity of each car; a grommet-engaging element on each coupler member extending into the extremities of the grommet of the adjacent car so that relative movement between the cars in a horizontal plane will be biased by the inherent elasticity of said grommet; and means mounted on said grommet-engaging element and acting to prevent relative vertical movement between said sleeve member and said coupler member.

11. A railway train comprising: a plurality of cars, each car being supported at its first extremity upon wheels engaging railway rails, the second extremity of each car being devoid of supporting wheels; a coupling device projecting from the supported first extremity of each car; and a second coupling device projecting from the said other extremity of each car, said second coupling devices overlying and interengaging the first coupling devices so that the said second extremity of each car will be coupled to and solely supported by the first extremity of the adjacent car; and means mounted on one cou pling device and engaging over the other coupling device and acting to prevent relative vertical movement therebetween.

12. Means for coupling cars in a railway train com prising: a sleeve member on the first extremity of each car provided with a vertical bore; a cylindrical resilient tube lining said bore; a resilient flange formed on each extremity of said tube; a coupler member on the second extremity of each car engaging one of the flanges of an adjacent car; a latching member hinged on each coupler member and engaging the other of said flanges on said adjacent car; and a boss formed on said coupler member and on said latching member, said bosses extending through said flanges and into the opposite extremities of said tube to cushion relative movement between adjacent cars.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,035,486 Larson Mar. 31, 1936 2,127,913 Graham et al. Aug. 23, 1938 2,216,547 Christianson Oct. 1, 1940 2,843,056 Browne July 15, 1958 

